Getting up
by Tiny Asparagus
Summary: Sixteen year old Matthew Williams thought that that part of his live was over and gone. Horse racing belongs to the past. But when he starts to hang out with Alfred F. Jones he discovers how big his desire to do it again is. He has to deal with his biggest fears and lie to those he love to get a chance to do what he really want to do.
1. Horse teeth and helmets

Matthew Bonneyfoy, a sixteen year old Canadian boy who had left Canada to live with his French father had first came into the stable owned by trainer Arthur Kirkland one day one week ago. His best friend, Alfred Kirkland had invited him home to his place one day after school. Matthew, who actually didn't know much about Alfred's family, or well, he knew that they had horses, got pretty shocked when he saw the family's home. As the two boys had walked down the small road after getting of the bus Matthew had looked with big eyes at the horses walking in the large green pastures, he couldn't resist to carefully stretch out a hand to one of the horses that stood by the fence. As the big black horse curiously had reached foward to sniff on the boy's hand he quickly dragged it away afraid that the horse might eat it. His friend had walked up to him, quietly laughing at the canadian's nervousity.

"That's Ciel Noir, we call him Ciel, he can seem really though and so, but he's actually a really cuddly and nice horse," Alfred had told him as they countinued to walk down the road. When they had came inside the house, or well, it was more of a mansion the both boys had took a small snack and them they had disappeared up to Alfred's room. Later that afternoon that they had looked for Alfred's dad. First they had looked in the stable but when they didn't find him there they had decided to split up. Matthew had decided to look outside while his friend countinued to look in the stable. The Canadian had walked over the yard when he had heard the sound of hooves against the ground. He turned around and saw the source of the sound, a big brown horse with a rider. As the horse walked past him it suddenly turned to him and got a grip on his shirt with its teeth. The poor boy had yelped as he'd jumped backwards, landing on his back.

"What are you doing here?! This is a private place, understand!?" The rider, a man with blonde hair and blueeyes, had said.

"I-I'm so s-sorry..." he was interrupted.

"Ludwig, there's no need to scare him away." A blonde man with a very british accent had said. Then he had turned to Matthew who still was sitting on the ground.

"It's Matthew, right? I'm Arthur, Alfred's dad." Mr. Kirkland smiled. The boy had nodded, still shaking after his near death experience.

"Are you alright, lad?" The Brit had said as he'd helped the Canadian up.

"Y-yes, I'm s-sorry if I bothered you."

"No, no problem lad." The man had smiled.

"Ha, found ya!" A loud voice which belonged to Alfred had said, or well, yelled.

That was the first time Matthew Williams had met Mr. Kirkland. But it had also been the first time in two years he had been close to a horse.

Today he was with Alfred again. The two boys stood at the small track by the pastures and saw how two of the horses cantered beside each other while the riders stood balanced in the stirrups.

"The brown one is Famous Patriot and the gray one is Stormchaser. Patriot won a race last week," Alfred said and pointed at the horses.

"Okay," Matthew answered and followed the two horses.

"I think you met Ludwig the last time you were here." Mattie nodded. "He can seem pretty scary, but behind that mask he's kinda soft. He really cares about the horses. He and his little brother Gilbert, you know that albino in school, they came from Germany two years ago. The other rider is Feliciano, he's italian. I must say that he's the most cheerful and chatty person I know." Matthew just nodded and continued to follow the horses on the track, they had stopped the horses and as they walked past the boys Feliciano waved to them.

"Ah, I see you have a friend here. Ciao, Alfred's friend, you like horses?" The Italian said and gave them a big smile.

"Y-yeah, I kinda like horses," the Canadian said quietly. The boys walked by the fence, following the two horses.

"That's great! Do you ride?" Feliciano asked and stroked Patriot's neck.

"N-no, I don't, or well... I d-did," Matthew said and looked down on his feet. The memories came back and flooded his head. The hooves, the pain and the ground that came rushing towards him.

"That's awesome! Why haven't you told me? We two can ride together," Alfred said and gave his friend the biggest smile ever.

"I don´t have a helmet or good shoes for that…" Mattie said quietly. The American thought for a while before he said something.

"No problem! I´m sure that you can have one of my helmets, same with shoes." Matthew swallowed nervously. Now he couldn't escape.

They walked inside the tack room and Alfred gave him a helmet with a red helmet cover. As the American began looking for a pair of shoes Matthew looked at the saddles and bridles hanging on the walls. Red saddlecloths laid over the five brown exercizesaddles, it was easy to see what colour Mr. Kirklands horses ran with.

"Ha! Here they are, I knew I had them here somewhere," his friend said happily and held a pair of black jodhpur boots in front of the Canadian's face.

"Thanks," he answered and forced himself to sound calm.

"Now, there's only one thing left, a saftey vest. I think you are thinner than me so you can take my old one. Stay here and change shoes and try the helmet, I'm back soon. As he was told Matthew took his own shoes of and replaced them with the jodhpur boots. They fit him well and so did the helmet. Soon Alfred came back wearing a black vest and a helmet as the one Matthew had, he also had a blue vest in his hands.

"Here! I think this will fit," he said happily and gave his friend the vest. When they both was ready they walked into the stable. Alfred pointed out the horse Matthew got to ride. It was a pretty small dark brown thoroughbred named Long Line. He was to old to race and did only go with the young horses during trainging. Fortunately he was already saddled by Feliciano, so this far things had gone fine. With shaking hands Mattie took the horse's reins and walked out of the stable with it. Now he could't chicken out.


	2. Canter and memories

**Authors note**

**First if all, thanks to Maplejay for being my first follower :)**

**Hello, Tiny Asparagus here. If you've begun reading this story, thank you!**

**I will try to update this story at least once a week, maybe faster or maybe slower. I don't know to much about the horse racing industry in America, I know more about European racing, so I'm so sorry if there's anything wrong.**

Matthew felt his whole body shake in fear. There was no way he could show Alfred that he was afraid, the American would probably laugh at him. He checked the saddle girth and took the reins in one hand. Feliciano walked behind him and took his right leg in his hands.

"One" The Canadian felt his heart beat fast inside his ribcage.

"Two" He took a breath.

"Three" The Italian lifted the boy's leg and Mattie swung it over Long Line's back. He did it, he was on a horse. Fast he got his feet in the stirrups, they wasn't as short as the ones jockeys had, but either as long as the ones show jumping riders rode with. He watched as Alfred mounted his horse.

"So, where do you wanna ride? We can take a canter on the track or ride in the woods," the American said as he shortened his stirrups.

"You can decide..." Matthew tried to sound calm. His friend have him a big smile.

"Okay then, I wanna ride on the track. Let's go," Alfred said and made his horse walk. Matthew did the same. As the horse began to walk the Canadian felt his heart beat even faster. The movement under him, the sound of the hooves against the pavement and the reins in his hands, everything gave him flashbacks. That last time, that time when everything went wrong. That Canadian sat stiff in the saddle.

"...and then I came up beside him and took his reins. Cool, hu?" Matthew had no idea about what his friend talked about.

"Y-yeah," he answered quiet.

"It was so awesome! The hero saved the day!" Mattie just nodded and looked forward to the now approaching racetrack, a sight that made the already existing lump in his stomach bigger. The horses walked faster. With one hand tight around the front of the saddle Matthew followed Alfred out on the track.

"You ready to trot? His friend asked. Matthew had no answer to that question, he just did what he had to do. He nodded. Alfred made his horse trot and Matthews horse did the same. It took five steps.

"Stop, please stop!" Matthew said with panic in his voice as he pulled the reins. Alfred didn't seem to hear him, he just rode on. Matthew pulled the reins even harder, but the horse didn't even slow down. Suddenly Alfred made his horse canter and Long Line wasn't slow to follow. All the terrified Canadian could do was to take a good grip with both hands over the saddle and pray for his life.

"Alfred!" he yelled. "Alfred, please, stop!" He felt tears running down his cheeks. They didn't even go fast, ridiculous, but here he stood in the stirrups crying like a child, Alfred would definitely laugh and tell everyone. Finally he did one of the only things he had left to do. With a strong hand he steered the horse towards the inner fence. The sharp turn made him lose what balance he had and with yelp he flew through the air and landed on the ground with a thud. He sat up and laid his head on his knees and felt the tears make his jeans wet.

"Mattie! You alright?" Alfred had turned around when he had saw how his friend had fallen of the horse in the corner of his eye. Matthew just sat quiet trying to hide his tearstained face.

"Mattie! Talk to me. What's wrong?" Alfred tried again. He got of his horse and walked towards his friend.

"You wouldn't understand... You would only laugh."

"No, Mattie, I won't laugh, I promise. You're my friend, and friends care about each other." Matthew looked up and saw that Feliciano had catched Long Line and that he was now walking towards them.

"I'm afraid. This is the first time in two years that I've been on a horse. I wanted to tel you, but I was afraid that you would laugh."

"No, no Mattie, I would never do that. Let's get up shall we? Looks like dad's on his way and we don't want to scare him." Matthew stood up and followed his friend of the track. Feliciano walked up beside them and held the thoroughbred's reins so Marrhew could take them.

"Can you please take care of him, Feli?" Alfred asked and smiled towards the Italian.

"Of course!" The young man left them.

The Canadian boy sat down on a bucket outside Alfred's horse's stall and wiped away the remaining tears with his sleeve.

"So, Mattie, why did you become afraid of horses? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Alfred asked and dumped the horse's saddle on the floor.

"I can take it from the beginning if you want to hear about it."

"Yeah, do so."

"Well, I was thirteen when I first rode a horse. I had by pure coincidence walked by a small horse racing stable owned by a Russian man, his name was Ivan Braginski. So, we talked for a while and he said that if I wanted to I could help him make a horse ready for training. And that's what I did. Eventually he begun learning me how to ride. I couldn't tell my papa about it, he wouldn't even let me play hockey, he was to afraid that I would get hurt. So I had to lie a lot, tell him that I took rides on my bike, was out walking and so on. I had some close shots sometimes, but I always figured something out. And then one day I was out training one of Ivan's younger horses. Things went fine, but then I don't remember anymore, but Ivan have told me that the horse got spooked and jumped aside. I lost my balance and flew over its head. After that things are pretty clear. I had lost one tooth, got a pretty deep cut under my eye and broken my nose, and I had also broken my wrist. I had to make one of the hardest calls in my life."

_"Matvey, you have to call him. What would he say if you suddenly came home with that face."_

_"I could just tell him that I crashed with my bike or something."_

_"You have to tell him the truth, it's the best, da."_

_I took out my phone and pressed call beside my papa's number."_

_"Hello, this is Francis."_

_"Papa..."_

_"Matheu."_

_"Can you come...?"_

_"What is it Matheu, you are crying, oui?"_

_"I've lied... I haven't been walking or riding my bike..."_

_"Matheu. Are you okay?"_

_"N-no..."_

_"Matheu? What is it?"_

_"I fell of a horse..."_

_"A horse? Where are you?"_

_I told him where Ivan had his stable and he stayed on the phone all the way._

_"Are you angry?"_

_"I would be if you wouldn't be hurt."_

**Thank you. I'm very happy if you've read this far. I would be very happy if someone reviewed this. I'm pretty unsure about what I can change and do better, so please, I'm always open for critique. And if you haven't understood, the cursive is memories.**


	3. Note from the author

Hello! School began this week so therefore I haven't had time to write so much on chapter 3. I'll be doing a lot of things the weekend but I'll try to write when I get the time.


	4. Hugs and tea

It was day after that Alfred asked him, a question Matthew really wanted to hear, but still not.

"Dude, you know what would be so awesome!?" The loud boy said before taking a big bite of his hamburger. Matthew thought for a second.

"No.." He began only to be interrupted

"I could help you to get over your fear, that would be so awesome. We can actually begin today, if you want?" The Canadian looked at him with a look that screamed "Are you friggin' serious!? No, no I can't!"

"I'm... I'm... Ehm..."

"Yes, you can do it, I'm gonna help ya!"

"F-Fine, but only if you promise not to laugh at me..."

"I promise." Alfred gave him one of his hero-smiles. "So? Are you coming with me to my place after school?" Matthew nodded and smiled.

Okay, he thought. Everything's gonna be just fine. I can do it, I really want to do it, I've missed it so much.

They day went forward fast and soon the two boys stood outside the Kirkland stable. They walked inside. The smell of hay, leather and horses filled their noses and the sounds, tramping horses, horses chewing and voices filled their ears. Alfred stopped.

"This is Kristall, he's my horse." The american said and gave the chestnut coloured horse a pat. Matthew stepped closer and did the same, only more carefully than Alfred.

"He's fourteen, a really calm horse, I mean you could drive a really big truck right beside him and he wouldn't care. I'm gonna let you take care of him today, you know, brush him and if you feel okay with it you can take a small walk with him." Alfred took a lead rein and led the horse out of the stable, then he tied him to a ring in the wall.

"Here you go, I'm just gonna go and get his brushes, I'm back in a sec, while you're waiting you can begin to say hi to him." Alfred disappeared into the stable again.

Matthew took a step forward to the horse, slowly he held a hand in front of its soft muzzle. Kristall reached forward and sniffed in the hand searching for something to eat.

"Hi there." Mattie said with a soft and quiet voice. The horse turned his head and looked into the boy's eyes. He giggled and walked closer, there he stood for a while before he threw his arms around the horse's neck. Everything came back to him, why had he left the horses behind when he really loved it?

"Thank you." He said into the horse's soft fur. Was this a dream? He wiped away tears of happiness from his face.

"Here they are." Alfred came out again and put a bucket down on the ground. Matthew turned around and picked a brush up and then he began to brush, long strokes over the fur.

"Hey, Mattie, everything alright? You're crying."

"I'm just so happy," Matthew answered as he continued to brush. The boys didn't say anything for a long time, Alfred just stood there watching his friend with a big smile on his face. The Canadian finished what he was doing and turned to his friend.

"Great! Do you wanna walk with him to or are we gonna end it here for today?"

"Uh, I would love to walk with him to, but I don't have the time, I need to go home before dad gets worried."

It was later on the evening, Matthew are dinner with his papa.

"So what did you and that Alfred do?" Francis asked and took a piece of potato on his fork. Matthew thought for a second before he answered.

"Not so much actually. Papa I need to ask you a thing."

"Go on."

"Well, I've been thinking about beginning to ride again." Mattie looked at his papa with hopeful eyes. Francis sighed.

"Mathieu, you know what I think about that sport, it's to dangerous, you remember the last time you sat on a horse, right?"

"But, please..." His papa interrupted him.

"NO, just no!" Matthew stood up and felt the anger boil in him.

"IF YOU JUST COULD STOP TREATING ME AS A BABY FOR ONCE!" He turned around and walked up to his room with heavy steps. He threw himself on his bed and looked at the picture he had beside his bed on the wall, it was him on a huge brown gelding and beside them Ivan stood and patted the horse. Matthew remembered that day, Ivan had decided to see how good he could ride by letting him race against one of the jockeys that used to ride Ivan's horses in races. It had been an intense race, but Matthew had won on the horse Popular Project. I had to be one of the happiest moments in his life. He laid on the bed for what felt like hours before he fell asleep.

"Mathieu, it's time to wake up." Mattie groaned and pulled the cover up over his head. He didn't feel to well, his throat hurt and he had also a headache the size of Greenland. Francis grabbed the cover and pulled it away from the sleepy Canadian.

"Please... Papa..." He croaked and reached for the warm cover.

"That throat of yours doesn't sound too good," Francis said and pulled his son out of bed. "Come down now and I'll make you tea." Matthew stood up unwillingly and pulled a hoodie over his pyjama shirt. He then walked down into the kitchen and sat down. As his papa had said he made the boy a cup of tea.

"I think that it's best if you go to school, but if you feel worse you can go home." Matthew nodded and drank his tea. When he was done he changed to a pair of dark blue jeans and a red t-shirt, then he packed his bag and left for school.

**Note from the asparagus**

**Thank you for reading this story, it means a lot to me. It's pretty late here, 22:25 so I should go to bed now so therefore I wont write more here today. Okay, one thing. School began last week and it takes so much of my time, I blame the buses, so I don't have the time I need to update so very often, have patience, I'm writing something every day, sometimes just a sentence and sometimes 400-500 words. But for now, good night/good day depending on what time it is. **


	5. Success and sneezes

The first lesson for the day was history with Mrs. Pinedale, an older woman who loved to give the class homework, right now they worked with the American Civil War. Matthew wrote down what the teacher told them, he would probably need it later for the upcoming test. But it was hard for him to concentrate with the headache he had, most of all he wanted to go home and sleep, but he couldn't, no, not today, Alfred had asked him if he wanted to come and brush Kristall again and that was something he couldn't say no to. Matthew sighed and rested his head on the table.

"Matthew Bonnefoy!" Mattie looked up to see his very angry teacher in front of him. When she for once didn't forget him it was now.

"I expect everyone to listen and show respect during my lessons, so if you just could do as everyone else and listen that would be great." Matthew nodded and felt how every eye in the room was pointed at him. Mrs. Pinedale sighed and continued her lesson.

The school came to an end and the two friends met outside the gate. Alfred had made his dad come and pick them up today, something that made poor Matthew very relived, the bus usually was very loud and loud noises was something the boy didn't want to hear right now. Soon a silver colored car came around the corner and stopped beside them. Alfred threw the back door open and got inside, Mattie followed him.

"Hello," Mr. Kirkland said and began driving again.

"Hi dad!"

"Hi." They sat quiet the whole way and when they arrived the both boys left the car and ran into the stable with the speed of light. As the day before they stopped outside Kristall's stall.

"I just have to call papa," Matthew said and held his phone to his ear.

"Bonjour, Francis speaking."

"Hello, papa, I'm at Alfred's place and I'm gonna be here for a while," Mattie answered with a smile.

"Didn't you feel unwell? You're throat sounds sore."

"I did, but it's better now. And yeah, my throat is still sore, but it's better than before. Have to go, au revoir!"

"Au revoir!" Matthew looked at his friend and gave him a big smile. Together they took out and brushed the horse. Matthew actually forgot his headache but the dust in the stable made him cough and sneeze several times.

"So, I don't know, but you seemed pretty okay with him yesterday, so I thought that you maybe wanna ride him for a while today?" Alfred asked and got a smile back.

"Yeah, I think I can do it!" Matthew threw a fist into the air. Together they saddled the horse and equipped the Canadian with a helmet and vest. Matthew felt the excitement and happiness in his veins and he couldn't get the smile of his face. When they got out they walked into a small corral mostly used for lunging and training for the youngest horses. Matthew got up in the saddle and took the stirrups. Alfred got a hold of the reins and made sure that his friend seemed okay before he began walking.

"Okay! I will walk with you a while first and then I'm gonna let go of the rein, okay?" Matthew nodded and stroked Kristall's neck. It would be a lie to say that he was really comfortable, he felt a bit scared but he had to get over that. After a while he felt brave enough to ride by himself and Alfred walked into the middle and watched his friend ride.

"Would it be okay if I trotted to?" Mattie suddenly asked and gave his friend a big smile. Alfred couldn't say anything than "Yes" and soon the Canadian made the horse trot. It looked pretty good, of course he was a bit rusty, but who wouldn't be that after two years away from the saddle? Matthew felt happy and the fear was almost forgotten.

"Mattie, if you wanna take a short canter you can do that to, it looks good." Matthew gave his answer direct, he stood up in the stirrups and made the horse fall into a slow canter. After a couple of strides he stopped and threw his arms around the horse's neck.

"Great!" Alfred said and gave him two thumbs up.

"I can't believe it, I did it!" With shaky legs he made the horse walk forward and after a while he got of and followed his American friend into the stable again. When Kristall happily stood in his stall again the two boys walked inside the house and sat down in the kitchen.

"What did your dad say about you riding again?" Alfred suddenly asked and broke the silence. Matthew sighed.

"Well, he didn't like it, he just said no..." He was interrupted when the door was opened.

"Hello boys," the voice belonging to Mr. Kirkland said. After a short while he walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table with the two friends. He quickly studied the program for an upcoming race and wrote small notes beside some names. A loud sneeze broke the silence.

"Bless you," Mr. Kirkland said and gave the slightly embarrassed Canadian a kind smile.

"I think I'll have to leave now." Matthew said, he didn't feel as good as before anymore, his headache had come back and on top of that he almost felt feverish.

"Do you need a ride home?" His friends dad asked but Matthew just shook his head.

"No, but thank you Mr. Kirkland."

"Call me Arthur, you don't have to be so formal. Are you sure?" Arthur looked at his son's friend with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes, I'm sure." He and Alfred left the kitchen and picked Mattie's bag up. After that the boy began walking home. It was such a beautiful autumn afternoon, the sun was setting and the last rays of sunshine colored the surroundings orange. The trees still had some colorful leafs left, but many of them was on the ground.

When he came home he made himself a sandwich, Francis was working late and wouldn't be home before twelve so to entertain himself Mattie sat down on the couch and started the TV. Unfortunately there wasn't anything to look at, only boring reality shows, so soon the boy fell asleep.

**Author writing here. First of all, thanks to urufushinigami for the reviews, it really inspires me to write more. I wrote this chapter faster than expected actually and that makes me pretty happy. I'm thinking about beginning to make the chapters longer, gonna try to make next chapter at least 2000 words long. See you next time :)  
**


	6. Sleep and Bad News

When Francis came home he was met by the cutest thing. His own son laid sleeping on the couch. Silently he walked up beside him and studied the sleeping boy. The mouth was open because of his stuffed nose and as Francis laid a hand on his forehead he felt his son's feverish skin against his palm. The Frenchman sighed.

"Papa...?" His son whispered with a scratchy voice.

"Hi there. Looks like you won't go to school tomorrow." Francis stroked the boy's hair.

"Mhm..." Matthew fell asleep again and his papa took him in his arms, walked upstairs and tucked him down in his bed. With silent steps Francis left the room and made himself ready for bed. As he walked past his son's room he silently walked inside and kissed the boy's forehead. One thing hit him, the smell of horses. No, Matthieu was to well behaved to go against his own father, maybe he'd just walked past a pasture with horses or something.

A couple of hours earlier in the Kirkland's house Alfred sat on his room reading one of his comic books. A knock on the door interrupted him. He put what he was reading down and watched as his dad came inside. The look on the horse trainer's face could just mean one thing, he'd cried.

"Dad..?" Alfred said, very unsure what to do.

"We'll have to sell her, Luck..."

"What do you mean?! She's mum's, we promised her!" Alfred felt tears in his eyes.

"I known, I know, but it's the only way... Without the money we'll have to sell everything.."

"I don't care!" Alfred yelled and stood up.

"Alfred, look at me..."

"NO! NO!" He left the room and fled downstairs where he grabbed his jacket and put his shoes on before he ran out into the stable. Without thinking he walked into the tack-room and took the mare's bridle, saddle and a helmet. Silently but fast he then walked into Luck's stall and brushed her of fast before he put the saddle on her back. The mare looked at him with nervous eyes before she let him put the bit in her mouth. After that Alfred put the helmet on his head and silently he walked out of stable with Lucky Mistress. He made for sure that they were in the shadow before he quickly got up in the saddle, then the equipage walked away on the grass by the pastures.

Arthur didn't move from his son's bed. He knew that the boy wouldn't do something stupid, he would as so many times before just sit down in either Luck's or Kristall's stall and search comfort in the horses, sometimes he fell asleep and Arthur didn't want to disturb him so he usually just let him sleep and then he would wake up with the sawdust used as bedding everywhere, from his hair to into his socks. Arthur smiled at the thought. Slowly he made his way out and into the stable. First he looked into Kristall's stall, no Alfred there. He turned around and looked into Luck's stall, no Alfred and no Luck. Fear struck him as he also saw that both the mare's bridle and saddle were gone. He turned around and ran out of the stable.

"ALFRED!" The yell echoed through the dark evening.

Alfred rode on, he knew the forests like his own pockets. This was his favorite trail, he and his mother had called it "The Canoe trail" after they'd found a canoe laying in the grass far from the nearest lake. His mother had been a good person, it wasn't fair. He still remembered that day. It had begun like most days. When he got home from school his father had asked him if he couldn't help him with a horse that was going to a new owner, and so he did. Eventually his mother had begun loading the horse into the trailer, then it happened. The horse had no intention to hurt anyone. Something had scared it and it had turned around throwing its hind legs into the air hitting a head with a sickening crack. Jolie Kirkland died that day leaving her husband and son.  
Alfred slowly realized that he had tears running down his cheeks. With the backside of his hand he tried to stroke them away. He felt empty, he would never let his dad sell Lucky, but still... He didn't want to lose the farm, or the horses or anything else. Suddenly a big bird flew past them. Terrified the horse threw its head up. A pained yelp could be heard as the horse's neck met Alfred's face. He tried to make the horse move forwards but instead it spun around and reared. Alfred leaned forwards and threw his hands up the horse's neck to prevent it from going over, he wasn't fast enough... As he felt the horse falling backwards he let go of the reins and got his feet out of the stirrups. Then he didn't remember more.

The next thing he knew was that he was laying on the ground. Lucky were nowhere to be seen. Slowly Alfred sat up and realised that there was blood dripping down on his pants. Then he felt that his lip was slip open. No, no...

This couldn't be happening. Slowly he tried to stand up but his legs betrayed him. A thing laying in the grass beside him caught his eye, his phone, it must've fallen from his pocket. He picked it up and found the right number. A couple of tones could be heard before an answer came.

"Alfred! Where the bloody hell are you?!" Yes, it was his dad.

"Lucky, is she at home?!"

"She is! Are you okay? Where are you?!" Alfred heard thought the angry facade, his dad couldn't hide the fact that he was worried.

**Author's Note here: **

**Sorry for making you wait for so long. I can't say that school is the reason to that, It's only me. I haven't been inspired at all. I will try to write faster now that I've found a track to follow. The reason for making Alfred "suffer" is because I hate when Matthew is portrayed as the weakest person, but this way also Alfred's weaknesses will be existing. I also thought that it could be interesting to add some kind of backstory to both main-characters. This was all for this time, see you next time.  
**


	7. Sweatpants and raceday

Alfred had been controlled, stitched up and got his head checked and now he just waited. He didn't like it, laying in the bed with a headache the light from the fluorescent lamps only made worse trying to watch the bad shows on the tv in the room was torture. And the fact that his dad was there to only made it worse. Arthur just sat there slowly sipping on the tea he'd got himself, the look on his face was unreadable. Alfred closed his eyes in an attempt to get the headache away, something that didn't work but shutting the room out soothed it.  
"Alfred?"  
"Mhm..." He groaned sick of just laying there waiting.  
"Relax, you're so tense, it's..."  
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."  
"I'm not angry, only disappointed, but still I'm very relieved that you're okay," Arthur said and gave his son a pat on the shoulder. Then it was quiet again until a nurse came inside twenty minutes later.  
"We have looked at the result of the CT scan, we found no brain-damages, however we found a fracture in your zygomatic bone, nothing we'll have to fix, it will heal by itself. Even though we found no brain-damages I recommended you to be kept supervised at least until tomorrow morning," she turned to Arthur and handed him some advices on a paper.  
"You should wake him up at least every two hours, just to be sure that he's alright." Upon hearing that Alfred sighed, no proper sleep tonight then.  
"You can leave now, I'll just have to take the needle in your arm away." The boy just gave her his arm and quickly she took the needle away and replaced it with a band-aid.

Once they got home again Alfred changed into sweatpants and a worn out t-shirt with the text: "Who cares?" With a sigh he slumped down on the sofa and started the tv. Without any actual interest he watched a documentary about Kangaroos before he fell asleep only to be wakened again half an hour later.  
"Everything's alright?"  
"Mhm..." And so it went on for the rest of the night.

The next morning with Matthew and Francis.  
"I'm leaving now, oui, I bought some tea for you, I think you will like it." Francis had French as native language, but since they lived in an English speaking nation and both of them were used to English, Matthew in particular, so they spoke English at home too even though they often spoke French too. Matthew groaned and looked up to his dad.  
"See ya dad..."  
Matthew laid in his bed for around an hour before he rose up and made himself tea and a bowl of cereals and milk for breakfast.  
At 9.30 Alfred texted him and Matthew wasn't slow to answer.

From: Alfred [09.30]  
[I'm bored! Anything fun in school?]

To: Alfred [09.31]  
[Not in school, sick...]

From: Alfred [09.33]  
[I'm home too, visited the ER yesterday...]

To: Alfred [09.34]  
[What?! You okay?!]

From: Alfred [09.37]  
[Horse accident, can't remember a single thing, lost a tooth, split my lip and a small fracture in my face, nothing more serious.]

To: Alfred [09.38]  
[Glad to hear that's it's not worse. See ya!]

Matthew sighed, that only reminded him about his own accident, maybe he shouldn't ride again, what of something happened to him again. No, no he couldn't think so, not now when he'd come so far. He grabbed his laptop and opened Facebook for once. He'd created his account some years ago when he was bored but he never used it more than for messaging people who's number he didn't have. As he scrolled down the page he saw several pictures of Ivan Braginski's horses. On one of them, Hills To the Stars stood in the winner's circle after a race earlier that week. Matthew smiled, he'd ridden that horse a lot, a pretty nice horse even though he could buck sometimes. There was also a picture of Privyet Moscow, a horse that had been only a foal when Matthew had ridden Ivan's horses. In the picture Privyet Moscow, or Mossy as they called her cantered on Ivan's small track. Matthew sighed, he remembered when it was he that rode on that track. As he continued to scroll down the page he found out that two of Ivan's horses were going to run at a track nearby a week later. That was something he couldn't miss.

The following week passed fast and without anything special happening. Both Alfred and Mattie went to school. Alfred complained about how much his lip hurt when he laughed and therefore Mattie had tried to be serious, something that was impossible if you had Alfred as a friend.

"You, there's races tomorrow, you wanna join me?" Matthew asked with a smile on his face, it was Friday.  
"I think dad have three horses that's gonna run, so I'll be there. I can ask dad if you can go with us, if you want to?" Alfred forced a big smile back, it wasn't a good idea to smile to big with stitches in the lip.  
"Sounds great!"

Loading the horses into the trailer was an easy thing, they knew what was going to happen and they knew the routines. But even if the horses knew what to do it was hard for them to not take some small jumps aside or do small, almost ridiculous rears. All done the small group went off. Arthur drove, beside him sat Ludwig and together with Matthew and Alfred sat Feliciano. It was quiet all the way to the racecourse, the only thing that could be heard was the silent humming on some old songs from Arthur. Apparently it was something he used to do when he was nervous. They arrived and as the trainer, Feliciano and Ludwig took the horses out Matthew and His friend took out the horses things and when they had placed these outside their stalls they left the stable area and headed for the track.

The atmosphere on a raceday was something that always had a good effect on Matthew. He could forget every single problem and just listen to the hooves hitting the ground when the horses galloped fast over the homestretch, the shouts from the persons cheering for their favourite and the speaker speaking, no almost shouting in excitement as the horses raced against each other over the finishline.

The Kirkland's horses were going to start in race five, seven and eight, so it was still four more races until one of them should run. The horses on the next race was already walking by the track. One of them was Privyet Moscow, lead by Toris, one of Ivan's grooms and exercise riders. Matthew walked forward to the fence and waved as Toris saw him. The groom smiled and pointed towards the fence by the track. There stood no one else than Ivan Braginski. Mattie walked over to him.  
"Matvey! So good to see you."

**Wheeew! I made it, I wrote a new chapter! I've had so much problem with this, had to delete big parts of it and rewrite several times. This is far from the best chapter but it's a chapter. I've had so much to do so the only time I've had to write this on was on the bus to and from school. As always, thanks for your reviews and favourites. See you next time! Thank you!**


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